Welcome to the Circus
by cgee
Summary: Nick is back from NOLA and Jess is wondering where they stand, all while in the middle of planning Cece and Schmidt's (unusual) baby shower. Are they starting from scratch? Can they FINALLY get it together? Multi-chap set 3 months after the season 5 finale. Primarily N/J, but includes the whole gang.
1. Chapter 1

Hey- this is my first attempt at a New Girl fic, but I felt inspired by the finale, so here ya have it. This takes place after the time jump/Nick's absence (obviously assuming that he left). T mainly just for mild cursing at the moment. Hope you all enjoy! Please review!

The usual disclaimers: I don't own New Girl, but desperately wish I did. Please don't sue me.

* * *

Jess, Winston, Cece and even Aly lounged around the loft casually, trying to look blasé about the fact that Nick was finally returning from his 3-month trip to New Orleans. Jess in particular was trying to play it cool, but was silently struggling under Cece's near-constant knowing glances her way. Aly, ever the perceptive one, caught on at Cece's third look, so Jess turned to Winston, her only oblivious ally, suggesting they work on a puzzle. However, in seeking a distraction, she'd seemingly forgotten how frustratingly bad he was.

"Winston, I love you, but swear to god if you try to stick that _blatant_ corner piece somewhere in the middle I'm gonna lose it," Jess sighed.

Winston only grunted in slight acknowledgement. Then, biting his lip in concentration, tuned Jess out as he picked up the piece and stared at the barely-started puzzle on the table (no thanks to him). Taking a slight breath, he dove in, jamming the corner piece into the center.

"WINSTON," Jess shrieked in frustration, slamming her fists down on the table in a manner that made some of the pieces go flying.

At that very moment, the door opened, revealing Schmidt and Nick, with Schmidt carrying Nick's bags because "he was a husband now" and had insisted. Jess was surprised that her distraction tactic had actually worked after all, as she mused over the small pieces now littering the floor.

Cece, Winston and Aly cheered a greeting and immediately turned their attention to him, while Jess had to take a second to adjust her glasses and frazzled post-puzzle appearance.

"Nick!" She exclaimed a little weakly and a beat after everyone else.

"Hey guys," Nick chuckled. He reached for his bags but Schmidt wrestled them away, still refusing to let him lay a hand on them.

As Schmidt went to deposit the bags in Nick's room, Winston and Aly gravitated to his side, making light chit chat with him. Meanwhile, Cece sidled over to Jess.

"Are you guys ready to do it?" Jess whispered to her best friend.

"Yeah," Cece nodded with wide eyes, squeezing Jess's hand.

Jess squeezed in return and then Schmidt reemerged

"Hear ye, hear ye- the time for banal chit chat is later," He chided, putting a stop to all other conversations. "Nick, we have an announcement for you, since you've been literally impossible to get in touch with over the past three months."

"Oh yeah, I suspended my service, didn't wanna pay for the extra charges," Nick shrugged. "Did find a few Internet cafes though."

"Where the hell did you think you were? Studying abroad?" Schmidt asked exasperatedly as the whole group looked at Nick with half-astonishment, half-concern.

Nick muttered incomprehensibly as Schmidt pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing. "Anyway, back to what's important- Nicholas while you were living in sin with Big Reags in the Big Easy"- everyone else grimaced- "Cece and I were doing some living in sin of our own."

"I _don't_ think it's technically living in sin if you're married," Jess added, pursing her lips while Aly and Winston nodded in agreement.

"Oh god this could go on forever," Cece muttered under her breath, then cleared her throat. "What he's trying to say, Nick, is that we're gonna have a baby!"

The entire vibe of the room softened, despite Nick being the only one who was learning the news for the first time. Both Schmidt and Jess beamed over at Cece, Schmidt crossing the loft to stand by her side.

"Wow- congrats guys!" Nick said with genuine enthusiasm. "This is amazing news."

"I wanted to tell you sooner, but the whole phone thing-" Schmidt shrugged.

"You coulda tried one of my burners," Nick shrugged, pulling about 5 burner phones out of various pockets.

"What is-" Jess began in confusion, but Cece cut her off with a swift "Oh trust me, you don't wanna know babe."

"But anyway, what's important is that there is a cake in that oven," Nick yelled, pointing to Cece.

"It's bun, Nick. Bun," Aly corrected gently. Then again in a whisper tone, "Bun."

"Bun? Really? Huh. I'll have to look into that one," He narrowed his eyes in disbelief.

"Um, anyway, I think what Nick and we all mean to say is it's time to celebrate!…Again, for the rest of us!" Jess offered, knowing that this 'bun in the oven' debate could continue for hours.

They all did a toast (sparkling grape juice for Cece) and sat around drinking and catching up with Nick for hours. Jess, for whatever reason, couldn't find that much to add. She wasn't sure if she was more relieved or anxious that nobody had flat out asked him about Reagan.

A few hours passed and Schmidt announced that it was time to "take his wife and beautiful bean spawn to bed" since it was getting late, and Winston and Aly weren't too far behind, citing work in the morning. Slowly, Jess began collecting herself, deciding to head into her room to get into her pajamas, though a bit reluctantly.

She peered back into the living room to see Nick still sitting on the couch, staring straight at the table in thought. Hesitantly, she shuffled back out, the alcohol in her system only making her a tiny bit bold.

"Hey," she greeted quietly.

"Hey," Nick offered her one of his small smiles.

"How's it feel to be back in the loft?" She rubbed her hands on her pants to distract herself from the awkwardness in the room.

"Good- really nice," he nodded.

"So, uh, how were things with _Big Reags_?" Jess laughed nervously, mentally kicking herself over the oddness of her wording.

"Oh yeah, good 'ol BR," he chuckled dryly in response to her weirdness.

Jess felt internally annoyed at how she was holding her breath in anticipation of his response.

"It was good, nice. Lots of great sex, not gonna lie," he shrugged his shoulders and Jess was surprised that she found herself laughing at that.

"Eh I figured as much," she nodded slowly.

"But we, uh, decided to end things," Nick admitted, suddenly turning his eyes toward her somewhat intensely.

"Oh! Why? I mean, you don't have to answer that- I mean, I'm sorry. Me and my big nosy mouth!" Jess scolded herself and animatedly made a show of smacking herself on the forehead.

At the mention of her mouth she noticed Nick's eyes flick to her lips for a split-second, and suddenly they felt on fire. She was kicking herself for even saying it.

"Nah, it's alright. I mean, we had a great time, but ultimately realized we couldn't really see it going anywhere," he shrugged, averting his eyes toward the coffee table.

"I'm sorry, Nick," Jess lightly patted him on the shoulder.

"It's alright. I think I'm gonna, uh, call it a night," he nodded in the direction of his bedroom.

"Good to see you remember where your room is!" Jess said in her default cartoony voice when trying to diffuse an awkward situation.

Nick just chuckled and then pursed his lips at her bad joke, standing and making his way toward his room.

Now it was Jess's turn to marinate on the couch- she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, dramatically as if she was emerging from being held underwater. She immediately reached for any unfinished drink within her reach, which didn't result in much of anything, but provided a small comfort. If she was lucky, she'd at least forget that god awful joke.

Meanwhile, Nick was standing in the middle of his room, hands on his hips as he appraised the place. It looked exactly as he'd left it and he wouldn't deny that he missed it dearly. After changing, he tried to get comfortable in bed with a few different positions, ranging from fetal to yoga, until he simply flopped down flat on his back. His hand immediately flew to his neck as he felt something small prick him.

"What the-" when his hand emerged with the offending object it turned out to be a small diamond stud earring, which he recognized immediately as Jess's.

His lips curled into a smirk as he crossed the hall, noting that Jess was no longer on the couch. He knocked on her door quickly.

Jess still sat against the door where she had dramatically slid a few minutes before.

"Jess? You awake?" Nick asked softly through the door.

Jess shot up immediately, ruffled her hair and opened the door a crack, theatrically masquerading a yawn.

"What's up, Nick?" She tried to play it cool.

Still smirking, he held out his hand, the earring sitting in the middle of his palm. _Busted_.

"Damnit," she cursed herself, glaring at the small piece of metal that had outed her.

Nick still remained silent, the same dumb smirk on his face, moving only to cross his arms.

"Okay, so maybe there were a _few_ times I slept in your bed while you were gone- but there were some nights when Coach and May visited and then sometimes my room was too cold and Cece and Schmidt-" Jess rambled in a panic.

"Jess. _Jess, Jess, Jess,_ " Nick shushed her, lowering his voice as though he was some type of sage. "I'm not mad. It's okay."

"Really?" Jess cocked her head with wide eyes.

"Yeah, it doesn't bother me one b- wait, what is that?" Nick's eyes were caught by something beyond Jess's door.

"Shit," she swore under her breath.

After momentarily debating trying to shove him out, she relented, sighing in exhaustion and opening the door to further let him in.

"Okay, so I made another grapefruit Nick- NB freakin' D," Jess rolled her eyes while Nick looked smug. "But you were gone for a long time and left a damn Nick-shaped hole in the loft! And the couch! Which you've clearly wasted no time reacquainting yourself with already!"

"Jess," Nick tried to calm her down. "It's cool- I'm not mad. Or weirded out. Or whatever."

"Really?" She eyed him suspiciously.

"Really. In fact I am a little insulted that grapefruit Nick is better looking than me," he shrugged.

Jess laughed. "Welcome back, Miller."

"Happy to be here, Day," he nodded, maintaining eye contact with her for a few extra seconds before offering a small salute and retreating back to his room.

* * *

That's all for now! Reviews are greatly appreciated and chapter 2 should be up by tomorrow!


	2. Chapter 2

So I realized last night that I use 'dramatic' to describe Jess's actions fairly often- I'll try to make note of it and switch it up occasionally (unless y'all wanna make it a drinking game, in which case, be my guest).

Also, THANK YOU for the reviews/follows/favorites- I really, really appreciate them! Special shout out to **MyFictionalFavorites** , because hearing that the dialogue is realistic is probably the best compliment I could ever hope for, especially on my first try. So thanks again.

* * *

A few days later some of the awkwardness had subsided, and the moment Nick emerged from his bedroom at a crisp and unusual 9am, he was immediately greeted with Jess thrusting an armful of cardboard and decorative boxes into his arms.

"Uh….what?" Was all he could manage.

"Today's your day off, right?" Jess asked, pausing in the middle of her path of craft destruction throughout the living room.

"Yes, and…?" Nick still wasn't comprehending.

Jess sighed exasperatedly. "Ugh, get your head in the game, Miller! We're gonna be an aunt and uncle. You may have missed the first leg of shower planning, but you're grandfathered in so step it up!"

"Alright, coach," he grimaced, but there was a joking tone behind his words. "I thought all the craft hysteria was done after the wedding hooplah."

"Nick it's been," Jess dramatically faked looking at a watch on her wrist, "Nearly four months since the wedding, aka more than enough time to recover. Especially for you, who went off the grid in pound town, or whatever."

Nick looked at her quizzically. " _Pound…town_?"

"Yeah, I know. It even felt weird coming out of my mouth. Scratch that one," Jess shook her head and waved her hand dismissively, then turned back to the mess she'd made on the coffee table.

Nick thought about saying something else, but thought better of it and crossed to the kitchen, dropping the boxes as gently as he could (and only hearing one or two things break) and quietly making himself breakfast.

After a few moments of comfortable silence as Jess concentrated on her task, she turned to Nick impatiently.

"What are you doing?!"

"Uh...brain food?" Nick shrugged, hesitantly offering Jess his second piece of buttered toast that he'd definitely planned on eating himself.

She looked at him skeptically, but grabbed the toast anyway, taking a bite and ignoring how their fingers had touched.

"When is this thing, anyway?" Nick asked casually, sitting down in the one vacant spot on the couch and draping his arms across the back.

"Saturday," she replied breezily, returning to focus on splitting party favors into tiny gift boxes.

"Saturday as in _this_ Saturday?! As in, two days from now?!" He sat up straight, incredulous.

"Yep!" She confirmed. "So are you just gonna sit there or pick up the popcorn machine rental?"

Before Nick had a chance to respond, Jess had shoved the printed rental invoice into his buttery hand that'd been holding toast only a few seconds earlier.

"I'll text you the address?" Jess said with a slightly apologetic tone- even though she was deep in work mode, she could acknowledge how this might've been a little much to just dump on him.

Nick simply nodded, grabbing his keys and heading out the door.

The theme of the shower was 'Bourgeois Baby Circus' (Schmidt's idea, obviously), though Jess had already vetoed any suggestion of live animals. Schmidt and Cece, ever the unconventionalists, basically planned this shower to be an excuse for them and their friends and family to get drunk and give them gifts while celebrating Cece's fertility and Schmidt's sperm (again, mainly Schmidt's idea). Schmidt had shut down any of Jess's suggestions for traditional shower games, calling them "pithy and amateur," but was on board with Pin the Sperm on Cece's Womb and was currently in the process of tweaking the rules for True American: Ringling Bros Edition.

Not long after the wedding and despite Cece only having moved into the loft for a short amount of time before, Cece and Schmidt had moved into apartment 4C and had steadily been making it their own.

About two hours and 80 party favors later, Nick finally came back into the loft, panting heavily and carrying a popcorn machine.

"Nick, you know that's on wheels, right?" Jess eyed him suspiciously from the couch as he gently tried to set the thing down.

"Eh, wheels, can't trust em!" Nick retorted, making it blatantly obvious that he hadn't noticed them.

After taking a second to appraise his appearance- extremely flustered and sweaty (which, okay, Jess had to admit looked pretty hot), she tossed him a water bottle. When he was done chugging, she looked down at the clipboard in her lap.

"Okay, _sooo_ , since you're more suited for technical things than crafts, and Schmidt will _kill you_ if you sweat on the crepe paper, why don't you call these numbers and double check that our orders will be in on time?" She passed him a heavily organized and color-coded sheet.

"That I can do," he nodded as Jess turned back to her project. "Wait- don't _you_ have work, Jess?"

"What? No, Nick, the whole school has off this week for the solstice," she shook her head as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ah, right, the solstice." Nick bowed his head in mock reverence, then retreated to his room and began dialing.

* * *

At around 5, Cece barged in without explanation and grabbed Jess's arm, claiming that they were going out.

"Cece, wait, but your shower- " Jess spluttered, but Cece was having none of it.

Despite Jess, Schmidt and even now Nick's scrambling to secure details of the impending shower, Cece seemed generally unfazed. She dragged Jess to the bar.

"Are you even allowed to be in here?" Jess pursed her lips at her best friend.

"What? Of course I am, plus I always manage to score free nachos now," she waved Jess off. "Also, we're overdue for some quality time now that you're finally not mopey for a change."

"What?! I have _not_ been mopey!" Jess protested.

"Um, yes, you have. I'd say for the past...hm, three months? Give or take," Cece put a finger to her lip and pretended that she was thinking hard to pinpoint the time.

Jess simply rolled her eyes as Big Bob approached their table.

"Can I get my usual?" she smiled sweetly to him, then pointed towards Jess. "Oh and two shots of tequila for this one!"

"What are you- ?!" Jess tried to object, but Cece simply shushed her.

"So," she smiled with sugary sweetness across the table in a way that told Jess she wasn't going to like whatever came next. "You and Nick."

"Me and Nick _what_?" Jess rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, Jess. He's back now, it's pretty obvious how much you missed him, hence the moping. Plus he and Reagan called it quits, so I just figured…" Cece shrugged with mock innocence.

"Okay, so fine. I did miss him. A lot, but that doesn't mean that just because he and Reagan are over and he's back now that things are a go for us, or whatever," Jess furrowed her eyebrows.

"Babe, look. Reagan didn't say exactly why she and Nick didn't work out when she told me, but more often than not, when the two of you have relationship hangups, it has to do with one another," Cece said more gently this time, laying a hand across the table and covering Jess's.

Jess silently tossed back her first shot.

"I don't know, I just don't," Jess shook her head. "I mean he did go in the first place."

"Yeah but what does that even realistically matter anymore? The point is that he's back, you're both single, and you desperately need to get laid."

Jess just groaned, took her second shot and ordered a glass of wine.

An hour and a few drinks (of Jess's) later…

"So mmmaybe I have a crush on Nick. A little one," Jess slurred, throwing her hands up in exasperation then using her thumb and index finger to indicate the "littleness."

Cece cocked her head and gave Jess her best "get real" face. "Babe, I'm pretty sure it's far beyond ' _little crush_ ' territory at this point. For either of you."

Jess stirred her straw in her glass of water and looked into it like a crystal ball.

"Idunno, Cece," she shrugged.

"Really? That's it?" she slapped her hands onto the table incredulously.

"What?!" Jess recoiled a bit at her outburst, leaning back into the booth.

"Are you gonna, oh Idunno, do something about it?" Cece asked.

"Look, Ceec, I get it. You're my best friend, you've seen some shit. Schmidt has also, I'm sure, seen some shit. I know what it probably looks like from the outside but it's not that simple," Jess tried to power through the sentences though in all honesty her brain was screaming "sleep."

"How? I feel like nothing could be simpler at this point- I mean, have y'all _not_ explored what feels like all other options by now? Some of them- _ahem, Sam_ \- multiple times."

Jess had to admit she kind of had a point.

"He left with Big Reags and it made me sad," Jess admitted. "But for as long as I'm playing shower planner Barbie- well, more like Theresa, her brunette friend, I never identified much with Barbie- I'm not letting anything screw this up! I won't let you down, mama bear."

Cece rolled her eyes but smiled, helping Jess up by the elbow and leading her out to the car.

"Hey! That guy looks like Nick!" Jess paused for a second to point at a passing man.

"Oh yeah, him, he's the other bar's nutmeg wholesaler," Cece shrugged, waving it off.

"Huh," Jess nodded, her concentration lost as Cece helped her into the car and they made their way back to the loft.

Jess and Cece returned to 4D, albeit a little sloppily (on Jess's part), to find it empty aside from Nick on the couch toiling with something or other.

Cece, noticing this, made a break for it. "Welp, see ya later Jess!"

She left swiftly with all the subtlety of a giraffe on rollerblades, leaving only Jess and Nick in the loft alone.

"Hey Jess- look, I think I really got the hang of this creep paper thing!" Nick announced proudly, holding up a step-by-step craft of a ball entirely made of crepe paper which would eventually be balancing on the nose of a papier-mâché seal.

"It's crepe paper!" Jess responded in a flustered jumble, rushing to her room.

Jess dramatically threw herself into bed, half-drunk and half-turned on by Nick's crafting ability. She was overwhelmed to say the least.

* * *

More to come soon! I think I'm close to having the ending done, but there are still a few more chapters to go in between. Reviews are always welcome!


	3. Chapter 3

A little note about the dialogue- I wanted to keep the humor aspect in as if it was actually New Girl (LOL me thinking I could write anything close to as good/funny as the actual NG writers, but still), and stray from being _too_ mushy, which I feel can get borderline OOC. But obviously the feelings aspect is still there between them. I hope it comes across!

* * *

Jess was awoken the next morning by the muffled yet still shrill sound of a whistle through her room.

"What the _HELL_ ," she cried, searching for the source of the offense as her head pounded.

Then she found it shoved in her dresser- the walkie talkie from Schmidt and Cece's wedding.

Sighing as the whistling continued, she dug it out.

"Seriously dude?" She exclaimed exasperatedly into the handset.

"Day, we have a shower to plan here and in case you forgot, it's in T minus one day," Nick's voice came floating out of the speaker.

"Alright, _sergeant_ , but don't you think the whistle would've sufficed on its own?" She countered as she set it down and changed quickly, shuffling to her door.

"Fair enough," Nick nodded when she opened the door and found him on the other side of it.

He caught sight of her frazzled appearance and fingers pressed to her temple.

"Hey what's gotten into _you_?" He asked with a mix of amusement of concern.

"Cece and her damn free pregnancy nachos," she passed him and crossed into the kitchen, reaching for Advil.

"Oh, so that's why you were so on-edge about the creep paper last night," comprehension dawned on him.

"Crepe, Nick," she corrected.

"Look I support ya, and I can't tell you what to do, but I don't think Winston'll be too happy if you use his crepe pan without asking, Jess," Nick warned. "Besides, I already made us brain food again!"

"No the paper- it's crepe paper. Crepe," Jess corrected until she looked and saw the platter on the counter. "Brain food? Nick, this is just a bunch of pieces of buttered toast."

"Worked yesterday, didn't it?" He shrugged.

"Okay, well, no offense," she took a bite of toast. "But I need real substantial food. So I'm gonna go get that..."

"Alright, I'll come," he said as though Jess had twisted his arm.

"Oh no, you don't have to," she reasoned, a bit flustered.

Surely getting food wasn't a _date_ , but-

"Jess, we're co-party planners, we need to be in sync."

Jess rolled her eyes (yep, not a date) and silently grabbed her purse as the two left the loft.

They chose a simple diner-style place known for their breakfast food.

"Hey," Nick whispered across the booth. "Look what I brought."

Snickering, he pulled the walkie talkies out from under the table.

"What? Why? Nick..." Jess replied with a warning tone.

"I figured we could give one to our server, we are on a tight schedule, after all. Or, y'know, keep them between ourselves to get back into the groove of using them."

Jess sighed and rolled her eyes. "I don't think there's really a _groove_ for using walkie talkies, besides the wedding was only, like, 3 months ago."

"Well it felt like it's been a long time," Nick said quietly.

"Yeah," Jess averted her eyes to the table. "It did."

An uncomfortable silence fell between them until the waiter came for their order.

"So you're pretty into the crafting, huh?" Jess asked with amusement after they'd gotten some food in them.

"Yeah it's a nice distraction...from uh...the whole Reagan thing, and stuff," he admitted, making the atmosphere weird again.

"Oh, right, a distraction. Um, Nick, I'm sorry things didn't work out," she went to place a hand over his but chickened out, instead grabbing her respective walkie talkie.

"No, Jess, _I'm_ sorry- you said that stuff at the wedding and I didn't really give you a chance to explain and-" Nick started to apologize before Jess cut in.

"Nope, no way. We have a shower to plan and we can not let anything interfere, over?" Jess spoke into the walkie talkie this time, gaining some attention from the surrounding tables.

"Alright, yeah I guess you're right," Nick reluctantly agreed.

Jess just raised her eyebrows at him, nodding towards his walkie.

Sighing, he picked it up and rolled his eyes. "Over."

After paying the bill, they retreated back to the loft, working on various decorations all day with periodic checkins (read: _interruptions and/or shrill judgments_ ) from Schmidt.

They'd gotten a special deal on the original venue Cece and Schmidt had intended to use for their wedding, so both Nick and Jess went over the night before to check that some things were already in place to make setup easier. However, it seemed as though the staff had misunderstood, and when they arrived they found a wedding setup. Sighing, Jess surveyed the room. She made her way to the arch placed towards the front, where Cece and Schmidt had been meant to say their vows.

"I guess this thing can stay- we can cover it with crepe paper and put that big ringleader chair Schmidt wants Cece in in the middle of it."

Jess turned around for a response but just found Nick, across the room with his head tilted to the side, staring at her with a funny look on his face. This certainly looked a little foreshadow-y, _in a totally alternate universe, or something_ , Jess mused. Feeling her face burn after a few superfluous seconds, she finally cleared her throat.

"Huh?" Nick's head snapped to attention.

"Let's get to deconstructing this room, shall we?" Jess offered with a nervous laugh, trying to fight the heat on her cheeks to no avail.

They'd concluded that changing the whole layout around would take man power they didn't have, so they decided instead to just shift around a few tables and chairs until it looked less like a wedding and more like, well, a slightly disorganized wedding.

"I'd say we did pretty damn good for ourselves, Miller," Jess nodded, wiping some sweat off her forehead.

"That we did," he agreed.

The drive back was filled with normal casual banter and plans for the following morning.

"Hey Winston, Aly," Nick greeted casually when they returned to the loft, as Jess made a beeline directly for the shower.

"Hey man- where've ya been all day?" Winston asked with his arm casually over Aly's shoulder as they sat on the couch.

"Oh, with Jess. Y'know, party stuff."

Winston and Aly gave each other knowing smirks then simultaneously turned them toward Nick.

"Don't do that! It's creeping me out!"

"Just got back and you're already spending _extended_ quality time with Jess." Winston raised an eyebrow.

"Look, no. Winston, it's all shower planning stuff," he defended, not feeling like explaining that Jess- self-appointed Queen of the Feelings Farm- had _literally_ put a ban on feelings talk for the next 24+ hours.

"Oh I'm sure. Y'know what they say- ain't nothing more romantic than a baby shower!" Winston said with a knowing look on his face, his tone becoming more excited.

"Wait, babe, who says that?" Aly turned to him skeptically.

Nick took this moment while they were debating about the possible origin of that (non-existent) phrase to slip off to his room and go to bed.

When Jess came out from the bathroom, she was greeted by Winston and Aly silently giving her the same knowing look they'd given to Nick earlier.

"What are you doing?! You look like the Shining twins- except older and biracial!" Jess shrieked, but neither faltered, so she just skittered to her room as the couple finally began snickering and she swore she could hear a high five.

* * *

The loft woke bright and early the next morning, eager to finally get this thing over with. Jess couldn't deny that having Winston (and eventually Aly) helping out made the process not only quicker, but less tense.

"Hey guys, so Jess and I are gonna head back to change, we can grab a change of clothes for you both," Aly called out to the two of them after they'd spent hours putting up decorations and meeting with vendors.

"My khaki pants and you already know, boo," Winston replied excitedly.

Aly sighed, "The bird shirt. Got it."

"Just pick whatever, I trust ya. Maybe something that won't make Schmidt's future kid hate me," Nick shrugged to Jess.

Jess saluted him as Winston gave Aly a peck on the cheek and then the two girls left.

After Jess had changed into a simple floral sundress, she crossed over to Nick's room, rifling through his drawers. To her relief, everything remained in the same place- though, realistically this was Nick Miller, and there was literally no reason he'd ever change it up. She settled on a pair of khakis and short-sleeve green button-up shirt that she'd always liked on him, but he seldom wore. She also chose to ignore the fact that it _may_ have slightly matched the dress she was wearing. She was on her way out when something caught her eye. She gasped, blinking rapidly to see if her eyesight was playing tricks on her. But no, it was really there- the sex mug. It hadn't been out on his desk during any of the times she'd slept in there while he was gone, but there it was now. She felt as though she was seeing a ghost- a sexy (well, she supposed the mug itself wasn't that sexy, though it did say "ASS" on it), long-lost ghost.

She quickly exited the room and tried in vain to play it cool with Aly on their way back to the venue. They arrived and handed off the clothes to the guys, who then went off to the bathroom to bro-change (in their words).

After ensuring that everything was equal parts charming and gaudy to Schmidt's liking, they took a break, satisfied with their work.

* * *

So I realized I haven't been writing Winston and Aly as super affectionate in this, but I love them together! I've just been putting more focus on Nick and Jess. Wanted to put that out there.

Also- the venue comments may be a little off because I can't remember details about it since Schmidt's dad offered them the vineyard, lol. If so, hopefully I'm not horribly wrong and the story still makes sense.

Chapter 4 up soon! As always, reviews are cool.


	4. Chapter 4

Glad you're enjoying so far! This is the second-to-last chapter. I've had so much fun writing and hopefully can find inspiration to try more NG pieces.

* * *

An hour later, Schmidt and Cece arrived and Jess found herself surprisingly waiting with baited breath for Schmidt's seal of approval on their decor work. He got misty-eyed, wrapping her in an out-of-character bear hug and moving over to Nick to plant a kiss on his face. Cece, on the other hand, was appreciative, but more concerned with when the food was arriving and had already set her sights on the poor, defenseless popcorn machine.

The caterers came and people started gradually filling in. When it was relatively full of people they actually cared about, Schmidt gave the "signal" to Jess, which was little more than two finger-guns. Rolling her eyes, she made her way up to the front of the room and grabbed the microphone.

"Hello, everyone! Not sure why I'm the one up here doing this, but I couldn't be happier about my two best friends, Cece and Schmidt, being pregnant. And yes, trust me when I say that they are _both_ pregnant. We all can't wait to meet the little bean- which I say because it's gender neutral. I mean, is it _not_ really up to the baby itself to decide? It doesn't even have to be 'bean,' it can be any legume it wants!" Jess forced herself to get back on track before her rambling got too out of hand. Oh, also, what's about to happen next was entirely not my idea. But without further ado- the proud parents-to-be!"

Jess opened her arms as the guests began to applaud. Nick, slightly out-of-sight, pressed play as Britney Spears' "Circus" began blaring through the speakers. Everyone looked around in slight confusion until Cece and Schmidt came into view, leisurely strolling down the center aisle and waving like the President and First Lady. Which- Jess mused reluctantly but with admiration- they kind of were (to the rest of them, at least).

They arrived at the front of the room and Cece sat in her large chair, hugging Jess and taking the microphone.

"Cut the music!" She snapped a bit, then resumed talking after she'd calmed. "Thank you all for coming! It goes without saying that Schmidt and I are extremely happy for you all to be here and can't wait to meet this little one. Also, just wanted to take a second to extend special thanks to our party planners extraordinaire- Nick and Jess. Especially Jess, who is extra special to us, since- _surprise_ \- the baby was conceived in your bed! Anyway, everyone, let's get drunk!…Oh, except for me."

"What! But you guys have been moved out for a few months! You even went on a damn honeymoon!" Jess cried, but was muffled by the loudness of the mic, music resuming and murmurs of the crowd.

The party started picking up, with people mingling, eating, drinking and surprisingly playing "Pin Schmidt's Sperm on Cece's Womb"- particularly Robby. Jess shuddered. After speaking with a few random guests, Nadia being a highlight, Jess settled near the bar, leaning against it as she sipped a mixed drink. Soon, Nick had slid up next to her.

"I'd say we did pretty well," Nick nodded.

"I'd say I agree," Jess clinked her glass with his beer.

"Oh, and sorry about your bed," he chuckled.

"Eh, it's alright. Somehow _not_ the weirdest thing that's happened in there," she shrugged.

"Nope- definitely not the weirdest," Nick agreed, taking a long sip of his beer. "We had some crazy times in there, didn't we?"

" _Nick_ ," she warned, pointing a finger at him accusingly and being reminded of the sex mug.

"Alright, alright, not at the party," he apologized, putting his hands in front of him in surrender.

"Ugh, I think the kid we hired to run the popcorn machine is harassing people for payment. I'ma go sort this out," Jess sighed, leaving Nick at the bar.

On her way towards the machine, she was caught off guard by an unexpected guest. Reagan.

"God! Not again!" Jess groaned in spite of herself.

"Hey," Reagan said calmly.

Jess sighed, more at herself than Reagan. "Hey Reagan. Sorry about that, I just didn't expect to see you! Were you invited?"

"Well, seeing as you were the one who sent out invitations, I think you know that I was not," Reagan nodded with a dry laugh. "But Cece mentioned it to me."

"Sorry, I just didn't really know where you were in the world or what _that_ situation was," Jess replied sheepishly in a way that did nothing to help with the awkwardness of the conversation.

"Oh no, it's cool," Reagan shrugged. "Also you're probably not super jazzed to see me."

"What?! Reagan that's- why would you get that idea?" Jess tried to play it cool.

"You mean aside from the fact that you literally, just minutes ago, yelled ' _god, not again_ ' at the sight of me?" She looked at her with a mix of skepticism and amusement. "There's also all the things you said to me at the wedding…"

"Huh? No, but, I said those things to help _you_ , you thanked me, remember?" Jess couldn't deny her confusion. "I mean I know I was a little heavy-handed with the bubbly, but..."

"God, both of you," Reagan murmured under her breath, then continued. "Oh come on, Jess. I mean, I should've known right then. And for the record, I'm sorry."

Jess could tell she wasn't typically the type of person to apologize or admit defeat.

"Sorry for what?"

"Okay, there is _no way_ you can be that oblivious- for making a move on Nick, for asking him to leave with me, all of it," she was growing a tiny bit impatient.

"No, Reagan, it's…it's really fine, I mean, sure it might've stung, like, a tiny bit, or _whatever_ ," Jess shrugged. "But at the end of the day it was Nick's choice and he made it."

"Yeah, well, I think you already know that it didn't work out. And that I'm pretty sure the reason had something to do with you."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I never wanted that to happen," Jess apologized with genuine sincerity.

"Really? Ya sure?" Reagan pursed her lips, but didn't look mad, just entertained.

"I mean, not intentionally," Jess admitted, shrugging. "I can't lie that I was like…sort of relieved."

"Atta girl," Reagan patted her on the arm. "Anyway, you should probably do something about it and get your shit together. Both of you. And speaking of both of you- I'm gonna go find Nick."

"Great!" Jess chirped out with an underlying sarcasm.

"Oh, and look, after this- I'm out. You won't have to worry about me popping up again," Reagan promised with as much sincerity as she could without ruining her street cred. "Trust me, I've have enough of you weirdos- lovable weirdos, but still- to last me a lifetime. Plus something tells me now that Winston has a girlfriend I'll never get rid of his daily updates."

"Okay, so I don't wanna sound like a fellow-woman-hater, because you know well enough from staying in my room that I am a _staunch_ feminist"- Reagan nodded fervently in agreement- "but thank god," Jess sighed in relief.

"Bye, Jess," Reagan smiled warmly, squeezing her hand lightly and Jess returned the gesture.

Once Reagan was out of sight, Jess chugged her drink, then made sure the coast was clear and went to get another, the greedy popcorn operator completely forgotten.

Across the room, Jess saw Reagan exchanging a few words with Nick, friendly but not overtly, looking at him a bit disparagingly, then brightening again as she gave his shoulder a light squeeze and moved on. Next she stopped to give Schmidt and Cece brief hugs and Jess was almost positive she saw Cece gesture between the three of them and mouth "threesome"- sheesh, how many more months of her pregnancy hormones?

But Jess was suddenly distracted by something else and rushed over to Nick to sort it out.

"Nick," Jess said, trying to stay calm. "Why is the skywriter we hired to write congratulatory and baby-and-circus-themed things currently writing ' _9/11 was an inside job_ '?"

"Ack! Y'know, I should've known with a name like _TruthWriter Productions_! I thought _conspiracytheorist310_ was just his personal email!" Nick cried.

"Well, maybe we should fix that? Has he come down yet? I don't know if he's coming down," Jess shook her head at the circling plane overhead.

They both stared and watched it for a while in comfortable silence, until Jess broke out of her plane reverie and spoke.

"So, uh, you talked to Reagan?" She tried to sound casual, but a few-drinks-in Jess was far less skilled at subtlety.

"I did, I did," Nick awkwardly sipped his drink.

"Cool, yeah she said some things-" Jess started, but was cut off by mic feedback followed by Schmidt.

"TRUE AMERICAN!" He yelped, setting off an airhorn that neither Jess nor Nick knew when or how he'd conjured.

* * *

Just a side note about Reagan- though I wasn't the biggest fan of her in general (even before the added unrealistic interest in Nick), her saying that Jess didn't have to worry about seeing her again in this story more meant for reasons having to do with Nick. I didn't particularly like her character on the show, but still didn't feel it would be right to completely write her out especially since she has decent relationships with the rest of the gang. She won't be back in this story, but in the whole New Girl-iverse, I wouldn't count it out. Just wanted to clarify for context!

FINAL CHAPTER UP NEXT! What could possibly happen? ~mystery~


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry about the wait! I didn't intend to be ~suspenseful~ and wait this long, but life and other boring things got in the way and have kept me busy. Thanks for the continued support! I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope y'all liked it!

* * *

"I don't even think it's _possible_ to play True American with this many people. Definitely not advisable, at least," Jess groaned, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation.

Winston sidled up next to Schmidt, with a grand total of zero people being surprised that he'd been in on planning this game as well.

"Okay, the name of the game is _True American: Ringling Brother's Edition_ ," Schmidt introduced proudly.

"If you reach under your seats you'll find a printout of the rules- but you can mainly disregard all that," Winston chimed in.

While Schmidt and Winston went back and forth trying to explain the game to the poor, unassuming guests, Cece had slipped over to where Nick and Jess were standing on the outskirts, putting a respective arm around both of them and dragging them closer to the center of the party.

"Come on- _preggo card_ ," She raised an eyebrow at them both.

The game kicked off in its usual hysterical fashion, which was exacerbated by the fact that about 75 people were playing- or attempting to, at least. After 20 minutes of frantic gameplay and rapidly increasing amounts of intoxication, Cece and Winston gave each other a look and crept up to the microphone.

"GLOBE OF DEATH!" They announced in sync, citing the popular circus attraction.

The whole room paused for a second, many mid-chug, looking up at them in confusion.

Cece sighed, rolling her eyes, "It's the Iron Curtain: Circus edition."

Jess looked up at her with panic in her wide eyes as Cece explained the infamous Iron Curtain. The room had become such a mass of hysteria that she couldn't even see where Nick was, let alone ensure she picked a different number. And lo and behold, hers ended up being the same, because the universe is merciless. But so had multiple other people, which was essentially inevitable with that many players.

Cece, grabbing Jess by the elbow, dragged her towards Nick on the opposite side of the party. A girl who had also picked the same number had already crept up to him and was chatting him up with slurred words.

"Hey, no, sorry- go over there," Cece scolded and lightly shoved the girl towards an equally drunk guy who was looking for his 'Globe of Death' partner.

She then turned back to Nick and Jess, who were standing in silence. "Huh, well, wouldya look at that."

She gently pushed them closer together and then retreated back to where Winston, Schmidt and Aly were standing.

"She's a subtle one, huh?" Jess laughed.

"Always has been!" Nick chuckled.

"Man, I really was never expecting that bride card thing to backfire on me," she shook her head.

"Wanna go for a walk?" Nick cut in.

Jess simply nodded as they put some distance between themselves and the loudness of the shower.

Meanwhile, Cece and Schmidt looked at one another in a panic. Their Globe of Death rule had worked a little _too_ well- partners were making out everywhere.

"Schmidt we have to do something- we can _not_ afford for babies to be conceived here!" Cece cried. "First of all, we want the security deposit back and second, I'm not trying to buy this many baby gifts!"

They- along with Winston and Aly- set off to try and get the game back to normal and breakup the hormonal cesspool that had become of the party.

"Cover your eyes, baby," Cece whispered toward her womb as they passed by a particularly graphic scene of Nadia and Robby that she didn't even attempt to stop. Somewhere across the room, Schmidt could be heard yelling about the inappropriateness of certain bases and their irrelevance to True American, despite baseball being America's pastime.

Nick and Jess settled near a tree on the property.

"So are we in the clear now?" Nick asked.

"Huh?" Jess asked. "I can't hear Schmidt on his personal travel megaphone so I'd say so."

"I mean to _talk_ , Jess. Really talk," he sighed. "You told me to wait until we were done planning this thing."

"Oh. I mean, the party has essentially devolved into hedonism at neither of our hands so I'd say we're off the hook," she shrugged.

"Good," he smiled slightly.

"Good," Jess nodded.

"Look, Nick, I don't want things to be weird between us anymore," she sighed after a few minutes of silence. "I mean I know we were distracted by this party stuff which I dumped on you essentially right when you walked back in, but now that we have no crepe paper to bond over I don't want there to be, like, underlying weirdness."

"Jess, I think we've always had more to bond over than just _crepe paper_ ," Nick rolled his eyes.

"But are you saying you understand the significance of the craft corner now?"

He firmly shook his head, "Inconclusive." And a second later he softened, "But I agree- no weirdness."

"So that was step one…" she chuckled.

"I'm sorry, okay. Again. I was an idiot. I never should've run off with Reagan, I should've let you finish talking. I tried to tell Schmidt that the Hora was ruining everything but he just refused to listen. I just- I had something great in front of me and I screwed it up. An admittedly hot screwup, but still," he apologized in his extremely 'Nick Miller' way.

"Nick, I knew Reagan was important to you. I mean, she's great, y'know? If I was a more bitter person I would've suggested a replacement roommate resembling more of a troll, but hey, jurors can't be choosers. I couldn't have expected you to not want to try things with her. But I also didn't think that 'trying things' meant 'moving across the country for months,'" Jess admitted.

"Yeah, pretty stupid, huh?" he laughed dryly.

"No. You deserved to move with a beautiful girl who, yes, actually wanted _you_ , because you're amazing, whether you like it or not," she chided his self-deprecation. "Plus I never did explain myself before you left, so fair game."

"Honestly, we both kinda caught on pretty early into it that it wasn't working out. I realized how much I missed ya, she could tell something was missing for both of us, so we called it quits."

"Wait, but you stayed anyway?" Jess furrowed her brow in confusion.

"Don't get me wrong- New Orleans was an amazing place. Also being there helped me sort my brain out- mainly because Reagan yelled at me every morning to tell you. Like, literally every morning. It was like a damn rooster! Not to mention I couldn't book a new flight until my service had been turned back on," he explained.

She shook her head at the phone service bit, but continued to the point. "Tell me what?"

"That I just don't think I can imagine my life without you in it," he shrugged as though it was the simplest thing in the world.

Jess's whole demeanor softened. "Miller-"

But before she could- hopefully- reciprocate his statement, he'd closed the gap between them and caught her lips in a kiss, slowly at first but then gaining intensity that had been slowly building for the last few months, if not years even since their breakup. Her arms snaked around his neck and his hands were in her hair until they eventually had to come up for air.

"So, can I assume you feel the same, or...?" Nick feigned stupidity.

"No, I just slept in your bed half the time you were gone because I missed rolling over onto loose change and pretzel crumbs," Jess deadpanned sarcastically, but was unable to hide her smile.

"Does that mean no more grapefruit Nick?" He asked expectantly.

"Huh, so who's the jealous one now?" Jess raised her eyebrows, smirking.

"Shut up," Nick laughed until Jess leaned in to capture his lips once again, just to fully make her point.

A few hundred feet away, Winston, Aly, Cece and Schmidt stood right outside the party, holding hands with their respective partners and observing the scene.

"FINALLY," Cece sighed in relief, smiling at the two.

"Guys- I have a secret," Winston was trying in vain to suppress his giggles. "I planted the sex mug in Nick's room."

"Winston..." Aly sighed, but not without a few chuckles.

"Knick-knack the prankster's back!" He cried victoriously.

"Well thank god those two got their shit at least partially together, now we can finally end this game. Turned the party from circus to damn _Animal Kingdom_!" Schmidt groaned over the destruction of his _vision_ , ignoring Winston entirely.

The four of them went back inside, once again attempting to quell the mess they'd incurred- _was that Robby sneaking off with the Cece cutout_?

Jess and Nick gradually made their way back to the party, eyes wide at the amount of frenzy and blatant raging hormones that was still going on inside.

"This is like middle school dances all over again," Nick watched in horror. "Wait a second... _WHAT IS THAT GUY DOING TO MY CREEP- I MEAN CREPE- PAPER BALL?!"_

"Is that- _Nadia_ making out with the conspiracy theorist skywriter?" Jess turned to Nick in confusion as he draped an arm around her shoulders and the two made their way back to the rest of the gang.

* * *

And there ya have it! I wanted to keep it more short and sweet and to the point and also end on a funny note. I also didn't even attempt to write out the specifics of True American because I'll never fully understand it, so props to any fic writer who does.

Once, again, thank you all for reading and I hope it lived up to expectations! (If not, at least I liked it). Reviews are always welcome and greatly appreciated.

I have a few other ideas swirling around in my head so hopefully I get that mess together and will post something new really soon!


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